50D Metering
- Thread starter MatBin
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- Tim
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You should use what best suits you and the way you like to shoot. My preference is spot metering and manual exposure, but that's me. If the light conditions are changing often then I might change to one of the autoexposure modes, and if I'm letting the camera do the work I will probably just use evaluative metering in that case.
I find that usually the light does not change often or quickly, so I seldom need to fall back on autoexposure. Also, if broken cloud is passing and one minute it is sunny/bright and the next it is dull/flat then I will probably have a preference to shoot in one or other type of lighting. If I don't like what nature provides, one minute, I can hopefully wait for the conditions to turn in my favour. So I can leave my manual exposure set up either for bright shooting, or dull, and just wait till the light is right.
I find that usually the light does not change often or quickly, so I seldom need to fall back on autoexposure. Also, if broken cloud is passing and one minute it is sunny/bright and the next it is dull/flat then I will probably have a preference to shoot in one or other type of lighting. If I don't like what nature provides, one minute, I can hopefully wait for the conditions to turn in my favour. So I can leave my manual exposure set up either for bright shooting, or dull, and just wait till the light is right.
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- Richard
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I work much in the same way as Tim - although in changing light I tend to use matrix and some histogram chimping.
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- Tim
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Matrix is the same as Evaluative. Yes, I also chimp the histogram and check for blinkies too.
Since I shoot raw I often also aim to expose to the right, but that is a little beyond the original question.
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- Richard
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Sorry, getting my terms muddled up in my skull
Should have sais I do what you and chimp the histogram too. In fact I think I can just get away with saying I do what you do - as I also expose to the right where possible.
Now it's been mentioned, here is a nice link for folk who have not come across it before. Very useful stuff
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml
Should have sais I do what you and chimp the histogram too. In fact I think I can just get away with saying I do what you do - as I also expose to the right where possible.
Now it's been mentioned, here is a nice link for folk who have not come across it before. Very useful stuff
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml
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- Name
- Tim
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Take a look at this example from the rear display of a 5D2. You will see small areas of the preview image "blinking", which indicates overexposed (clipped) areas of the image.
http://a.img-dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOS5DMarkII/Images/Screens/highlights.gif
Personally I am usually happy to see just a hint of clipping, especially in non-critical areas of the image, because that means I have achieved my goal of a nice "ETTR" exposure. Expect to find blinkies appearing when you have light sources - e.g. street lamps - within the composition, or bright reflections off chrome, glass etc.. They sometimes can't be avoided and you should not always try to avoid them.
If I was shooting a snow scene at a ski resort, for example, I would be looking to nudge my exposure right up to the right hand edge of the histogram, and I might expect to see blinkies appearing on things like parts of the metalwork from chairlift pylons, or small patches of sunlit snow that just caught the light in a certain way.
Here's an example of such a scene....
I shot around 140 exposures in 40 minutes at this location and, once I had my manual exposure set up (took two test shots to establish) to give this sort of histogram, and the merest hint of clipping in the snow, I did not have to adjust my exposure at all for the whole session. The light didn't change and my exposure didn't need to either. If I had used autoexposure it would have been all over the place depending on the proportions of snow vs sky in each shot, and also what the jumpers were wearing. Manual exposure saved me a lot of grief and time editing and the histogram and blinkies confirmed that I had my exposure right where I wanted it. Of course, double checking every 10 minutes or so did no harm, but no adjustments were needed.
http://a.img-dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOS5DMarkII/Images/Screens/highlights.gif
Personally I am usually happy to see just a hint of clipping, especially in non-critical areas of the image, because that means I have achieved my goal of a nice "ETTR" exposure. Expect to find blinkies appearing when you have light sources - e.g. street lamps - within the composition, or bright reflections off chrome, glass etc.. They sometimes can't be avoided and you should not always try to avoid them.
If I was shooting a snow scene at a ski resort, for example, I would be looking to nudge my exposure right up to the right hand edge of the histogram, and I might expect to see blinkies appearing on things like parts of the metalwork from chairlift pylons, or small patches of sunlit snow that just caught the light in a certain way.
Here's an example of such a scene....
I shot around 140 exposures in 40 minutes at this location and, once I had my manual exposure set up (took two test shots to establish) to give this sort of histogram, and the merest hint of clipping in the snow, I did not have to adjust my exposure at all for the whole session. The light didn't change and my exposure didn't need to either. If I had used autoexposure it would have been all over the place depending on the proportions of snow vs sky in each shot, and also what the jumpers were wearing. Manual exposure saved me a lot of grief and time editing and the histogram and blinkies confirmed that I had my exposure right where I wanted it. Of course, double checking every 10 minutes or so did no harm, but no adjustments were needed.
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- Name
- Ian
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A mix of the above for me. Spot metering and Histogram checking. Manual exposure to get things how I want them.
I also have both custom function dials set to "HDR mode" as I call it.
C1 is three exposures and +/- 2 stops and C2 is +/- 1 stop. If I've got a lot of contrasting light & shadow in a scene, I just switch to one of the custom settings and take three shots, blending in Photomatix or masking in Photoshop when I get home. No messing about with trying to find the bracketing function in camera, just a twiddle of the dial and I'm done.
-Ian.
I also have both custom function dials set to "HDR mode" as I call it.
C1 is three exposures and +/- 2 stops and C2 is +/- 1 stop. If I've got a lot of contrasting light & shadow in a scene, I just switch to one of the custom settings and take three shots, blending in Photomatix or masking in Photoshop when I get home. No messing about with trying to find the bracketing function in camera, just a twiddle of the dial and I'm done.
-Ian.
